In 1964, Linda Keith was a glamorous seventeen-year-old brunette from West Hampstead, England. Working as an assistant on Vogue magazine, she was just about to start a modelling career. Dark-eyed, hip and as thin as a cigarette, Linda was in exile from her well-heeled Jewish family and in search of the bright lights, In particluar, she was passionate about both music and musicians. Linda's best friend was Sheila Klein, then-girlfriend of Stones' manager Andrew Loog-Oldham. Oldham insists that she was Keith's first girlfriend, and that he'd played matchmaker because, at nineteen, "I thought it was time that Keith went out with something other than his guitar." But it was this quality that endeared the reticent rock 'n' roller to Linda. Many years after their relationship had played out, she'd look back on him as "shy, introverted, very appealing, lacking in confidence," explaining, "I liked the fact that he was so involved with music, that it was such a prevailing part of his and my life."

One Summer day in 1964, Linda was driving back from the Summer Solstice festival at Stonehenge, and had been caught in a car crash and thrown through the windshield. Lying in the hospital ward, all mirrors banned so as not to distress her with the sight of her facial cuts and bruises, Linda was visited by Keith. "He leant down and kissed me on my face, and -- at that moment I will never forget -- showed me that I wasn't a monster, and I wasn't revolting. And that was Keith."

The relationship began to sour for the couple in the Spring of 1966, after Keith purchased his home, Redlands. "It was a very big turn-on," said Linda about Redlands, "but it was pretty near the end of our relationship and I don't have good memories of having good times at Relands." Despite Keith's hopes for their future together, drugs were coming between them. Not that Keith had any problem himself, not yet being the mad, bad, and dangerous-to-know 'Keef' of legend. It was Linda who led the way -- at first, she smoked more grass than him (when she gave him some particularly powerful stuff she claims it made him throw up!) and was the first to experiment with acid. Keith had gradually learned to enjoy a reefer, and had conducted the first of his notorious five-days-awake binges while on tour. Hard drugs were creeping in, as he replaced the edginess of amphetamine with the smoother, more potent, shorter-lived buzz of cocaine. But he hadn't touched heroin, and expressed no interest in it. For Linda, though, the brakes were off. She was diving into smack, and a photograph of her OD'd on downers had recently made the press. Whatever Keith's later lifestyle, back then it was nothing but a cause of concern to him. "He wasn't happy with the stoned Linda and it all got a bit awkward," Linda later explained, understatedly.

Written by Keith and Brian Jones in January 1967, "Ruby Tuesday" was Keith's swansong to Linda Keith. "It was probably written about Linda Keith not being there," Keith told MOJO magazine in 2003. "I dunno, she had pissed off somewhere. It was very mournful, very, very Ruby Tuesday, and it was a Tuesday." Linda was now one of Jimi Hendrix's more high-profile girlfriends. She was also a major catalyst to Jimi's career, after watching one of Jimi's shows in Manhattan, New York on June 23, 1966, she brought him back to England, where he was a smashing success. She even gave Jimi one of Keith's guitars with left-handed strings. But, Keith bore Hendrix no animosity. "I think he's a nice cat actually," he told friends. But he'd called Linda's parents up to tell them their daughter was strung out and wasted in New York. It resulted in them making her a ward of court, and in compulsory psychiatric treatment. Keith and Linda would never speak again -- though she seems to have mellowed toward him in later years, and, as her friend Sheila Oldham (nee Klein) says, "it was a caring thing for Keith to do. It probably saved her life, actually." Today, Linda is happily married to music producer John Porter.

The above text © Keith Richards: Before They Make Me Run by Kris Needs

The few photos I've managed to find of Linda Keith:


1964:

Photo courtesy of Topham Picturepoint

1964:

Photo courtesy of Topham Picturepoint

1967:

Photo courtesy of Topham Picturepoint

Late 60s:

Photo courtesy of Ossie Clark



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 11:24 by gypsy.

HOT HOT HOT!!!

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nice - thanks Gypsy. i've always been intrigued by Linda Keith, particularly because
she seems to avoid media attention and has never seemed into "cashing in" on her experiences.
i've wondered if Ride On Baby is another song to/about her, from an angrier & less melancholy day of the week.

Keith Richards interviewed by Paul Trynka - MOJO 40 Anniversary edition 2003



ROCKMAN

She appears/is interviewed in the 1973 film/documentary 'A Film about Jimi Hendrix'.

Any chance of suki thread?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 11:54 by His Majesty.

I believe John Porter (Linda's husband) produced the Stones' collaboration with BB King on Paying The Cost during the Bridges to Babylon sessions.

just listened to the 2005 ABB radio interview...a caller asked the Stones "who was Ruby Tuesday?"...Mick explained that he didn't write any of it - immediately handed that question to Keith. Keith side-stepped mentioning Linda Keith...remained vague but did think it happened on a Tuesday. The band was a bit giddy throughout the interview.....not many serious answers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 16:20 by sweet neo con.

If they had married...she'd be known as Linda Keith-Richards.

If they had married...and Keith had taken her last name...he'd be Keith Keith or Keith Richards-Keith.

sweet neo con Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If they had married...she'd be known as Linda
> Keith-Richards.
>
> If they had married...and Keith had taken her last
> name...he'd be Keith Keith or Keith
> Richards-Keith.

LOL!!! Post of the week!

Keith Keith Keith Keith in Joseph Hellers world...

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I think Mick called her Linda Keef

I used to work with a guy named Kamoche Kamoche.

In his country in Africa, it was tradition to name the first son after the bride's father, his name was Kamoche. Unfortunately, her new husband's last name was also Kamoche.

I just called him K squared.

Wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well.

are you C squared?

Linda Keef was square..but I don't care..

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Hey...I know a guy called Dick Allcock........



ROCKMAN

rockman said: Hey...I know a guy called Dick Allcock........
*****************

so when you guys were choosing up sides on the playground...someone said "I want Allcock"? Or "we want dick"?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 22:21 by sweet neo con.

There was a guy running of office out here a few years ago named Dick Sweatt.

This is what Dick Sweatt looks like......really!





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 22:25 by sweet neo con.

Dont forget Dick Trickle!

how could I forget Dick Trickle...i think he's from my state.

i know a couple named Keith & Linda...does that count?

edit



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 22:49 by sweet neo con.

Thank you for the photos, gypsy!

Here are some additional shots of Linda Keith by Philip Townsend. The enlarge button seems not to be working (at least on my computer) so they are only thumbnails:

[www.philiptownsend.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 22:44 by browneyedgirl.

my bag



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 22:43 by sweet neo con.

The enlarge button isn't working for me either. Bummer, I would like to get a better look at her, it's funny that for a model there are hardly any photos floating around of her.

Thanks for the link though.

CindyC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dont forget Dick Trickle!
>
> [www.nndb.com]
> kle.jpg


Or Dick Tracy - here in Warhol's interpretation...

edit



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-01-16 22:48 by sweet neo con.

are you getting some kind of kickback from that website everytime you post that?